Ring Road Day 2: Journey to the Center of the Earth

I began hiking in the predawn glow and reached the ridge of Eldborg's crater in time to see another spectacular sunrise.

 

My pictures don't really do justice to how steep Eldborg is, inside and out. Lonely Planet compares it to an egg-cup, and I suppose that is about right. After hiking back along the frozen dirt paths I drove a tiny way to a cliff of basalt jutting up from the landscape like a natural quarry. I was blown away by basalt when I first saw the hexagonal columns on Jeju island, but by the time I finished traveling across Iceland they almost seemed commonplace.

From there I took a much longer drive out along the south coast of the Snaefellsnes peninsula (a name that amuses me, having lived for years on Sneffels street). Snaefellsnes looks like a finger bone stretched out to the West of Iceland.

I stopped by some little towns, mostly to see the lava formations near them and their coasts. It's funny that every little group of more than twenty houses gets put on the map as a town since the total Icelandic population is so tiny. There was a path through the lava to a crater that is said to be home to more little people. The path did have a Tolkienesque feeling to it, especially with Snæfellsjökull looming in the background.

The giant volcano Snæfellsjökull was used as the entrance to the Earth's core in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I was  tempted to try it, of course, but it is a serious and dangerous hike even in summer with proper gear and a group, so I didn't consider it too seriously. The coast here had some amazing waves.

 My next stop was a quaint little collection of houses with a smaller but closer elf-inhabited mountain Strapafell as the backdrop.

 The village is the setting for an Icelandic sage about Bárður, a half human and half ogre. Naturally, there was a statue of him:

Partway up Strapafell was a cave where one is supposed to be able to hear dwarfs hammering.  The cave really didn't look like much, though I did see some very old graffiti and got a better view of Snæfellsjökull.

From the village there is a path through lava fields along the coast that I wish I could have walked, but I would have had to walk back as well and didn't really have time. Instead I drove to the little fishing village on the other end of the lava trail. I walked for a while along the coast where I saw some natural arches and some oddly organic-looking lava formations.

From there I drove to the West end of the peninsula to a series of craters, one of which I drove into.

My reliable little blue two wheel drive car seen here did remarkably well on Iceland's barely negotiable terrain.

Further along I climbed a steep volcanic cone with great views of the area, including the sea, Snæfellsjökull, and the rift alongside the volcano I was standing on. It was windy.

I passed Iceland's tallest structure, a radio tower, and some modern churches with interesting architecture as I turned the corner and began heading along the North side of the peninsula, which was much shadier. The mountains and the angle of the sun means that for much of the winter these areas do not see any direct sunlight at all. I raced the daylight as I drove along cliffs and beside mountains until I reached Berserkjahraun, halfway across the peninsula. Berserkjahraun is a path through lava fields. Like many viking tales, it cuts out any lesson or moral to leave more room for awesome. A farmer hired two viking warriors to work on his farm (Icelandic sagas seem full of warrior farmers). The farmer's daughter and one of the vikings fell in love and the viking asked permission to marry her. The farmer didn't want this but didn't want to outright refuse what was presumably a pretty scary guy, so he instead have the viking an impossible task: make a path through the lava field to the farmer's brother's farm, so the farmer didn't have to walk around the lava field anymore. The two vikings use their berserker strength to start tossing boulders out of the way and make a path. The farmer is incredulous, and instead of being true to his word he tricks the two berserkers into  getting locked in a sauna and then has them both killed. The path through the lava field remains to this day.

As the sun was setting and after a wrong turn and some backtracking, I finally arrived at Helgafell, a mountain that was sacred to Thor and was the site of the first assembly meeting in Iceland. A temple to Thor once sat on the mountain's top, and more recently a church was there. The stone foundation of the latter still stands. I absolutely love Norse mythology, and if I could manage to make myself believe in any religion it would be this one, full of stories simultaneously epic and hilarious and set in a world that was the inspiration behind Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings, and hence the entire fantasy genre. As I surveyed the sunset causing the mountains to glow and creating reflections in shimmering lakes, I actually saw two ravens circling the mount, and I gave a shouting prayer to Odin, the All Father.

Bidding farewell to Huginn and Muninn (thought and memory, Odin's raven scouts), I jaunted down the mountain and continued my journey in the dark. I planned my trip so that I could end each day driving past stretches of areas where I wasn't planning to stop so that I could maximize my sightseeing during daylight hours. I ended the day in Reykir, where I planned to stay in the hostel. I was discouraged to see the building completely dark, but the door proved to be unlocked and there was a note saying to call. The proprietor was surprised that anyone was traveling around the island at this time of year, but was kind enough to let me stay for free because they were remodeling and it wasn't in top condition. This is a good example of the  kindness I experienced from the Icelandic people on my trip.